The green room at the NBA Draft has been a frequent stopover for former Blue Devils waiting to hear their name called and have their professional careers determined. So it wasn't surprising that yet another Duke player spent an evening in the company of the league's top draftees-except he wasn't there to hear his own name called.
Sophomore guard Nolan Smith attended the June 26 draft as a guest of childhood friend Michael Beasley, who was selected by the Heat as the second overall pick. The draft day visit to Madison Square Garden culminated the first half of Smith's summer, which he spent working out with Beasley as he prepared for the NBA.
Smith and Beasley have been teammates on the AAU circuit and in high school at Oak Hill Academy, but the bonds between the pair have transcended basketball since Beasley moved in to live with Smith's family 11 years ago.
"My friendship with him is, we're like brothers," Smith said. "We've spent a lot of time together working out and just really making each other better."
After the end of his freshman year, Smith returned to his home in the Washington, D.C. area for a mere two days before heading to Philadelphia to train with Beasley as he prepared for draft tryouts and the NBA's combine in Orlando, Fla. Beasley, Smith and other prospects followed a grueling training regimen built around three-a-day sessions of drills, conditioning and weightlifting with minimal breaks between workouts.
"We would wake up at 9 a.m., eat breakfast and go straight to the gym from 10 a.m. to about 1 p.m., getting about three hours in," said Smith, who averaged 5.9 points per game in his rookie season. "We'd go back to the hotel, take a nap and then go straight to lifts. We'd usually lift for another hour an a half, then at night time, we'd go [back to the gym] and get more shots up."
Smith also joined junior forward Gerald Henderson in Philadelphia, Henderson's home city. Smith saw his teammate a few times this summer, as Henderson used the same facility to recover from postseason wrist surgery.
"Gerald thinks he's left-handed now after having surgery on his shooting hand," Smith said. "He's worked real hard this summer as far as not getting out of shape and working on his off hand."
Smith said the constant workouts with NBA-bound players have helped his skills, but the intimate exposure to the draft preparation process has also stimulated his mental approach to the game.
"It motivates you, and that's really what I've done this last season, [tried to] motivate myself even more," he said. "Not that I wasn't motivated, but that just makes you get the extra kick to work hard. Now that I've stepped back on Duke's campus, I know that those guys have pushed me and that I've pushed them."
Smith said he plans to continue to work on all aspects of his game over the remainder of the summer as he trains with teammates and former Duke players on campus. Most of all, the soft-spoken point guard also hopes to develop more of an on-court attitude.
"The main thing [for me] is just being cocky," Smith said. "Not being cocky in a bad way, where I'm a jerk and stuff like that, but just being cocky on the court to where I feel like I can beat any person that steps in front of me."
And if he can beat Beasley, he might be able to beat anyone.
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